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McCarthy tragedy: how the day unfolded

Ashley Porter

Port Adelaide CEO Keith Thomas received a telephone call from the club's doctor in France, saying he had heard on French radio that a Port Adelaide footballer had died in Las Vegas.

Thomas had minutes previously received the news from Victorian Police. At that stage the speculation was that the player, later revealed to be John McCarthy, had fallen from a balcony.

Port activated its crisis management plans and according to Thomas, every step was activated. A priority was tracking down the 10 other players who left for the US with McCarthy on Saturday morning because they had no idea what had happened.

Word had already spread announcing McCarthy's death through social media, and the club needed to tell the players what had happened before they heard it elsewhere. Australia's media did not identify McCarthy by name until Port made the announcement 4.30pm.

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The morning telephone link to the players in Las Vegas coincided with every other Port player being summoned to Alberton, along with staff members, at 9.30am to be told of McCarthy's death. Teammates openly cried. Thomas said the players in the US were “devastated”. They were: Travis Boak, Matthew Broadbent, Alipate Carlile, Brett Ebert, Hamish Hartlett, Tom Logan, Andrew Moore, Paul Stewart, Jackson Trengove and Justin Westhoff.

Meanwhile, Victorian Police were attempting to track down McCarthy's brother, who was holidaying in Ireland.

Port dispatched its general manager football operations Peter Rohde to the United States. He will meet one of McCarthy's three sisters already there and an official from the Australian Embassy to make formal arrangements about bringing McCarthy back to Sorrento, where his parents, Shane and Cathy live. “We are unsure how long that is going to take,” Thomas said. “We are trying to work with the authorities there.”

Rohde will then join the remaining 10 Port players, and accompany them back to Adelaide. Another group of Port players, and McCarthy's girlfriend, Dani, were supposed to meet them in America later this week, but obviously this trip has been cancelled.

According to Thomas, the players separated in small groups in Las Vegas and they had no idea what had happened to McCarthy. The Flamingo Hotel, where the accident happened, was not the hotel where he and his teammates were staying.

McCarthy was transported to the University Medical Center of Las Vegas, where he was pronounced dead. The incident is being investigated by the Nevada Clark County Coroner's Office.

“Just how it happened seems bizarre,” Thomas told The Age after speaking to the media at Alberton yesterday.

“At some stage John and the group separated. They (the other 10 players there) are unsure when that happened. He ended up somewhere else on his own; it was a bit weird.

“I believe there were witnesses on the ground when the accident occurred. The police are trying to piece together what happened.

“The day has been spent trying to make sure that John's parents and his family have been informed and supported.

“John was a very popular Port Adelaide player. He had embraced the club as we had embraced him, and our thoughts and prayers are with his parents and his family right now.”

When asked whether alcohol was involved in the tragedy, Thomas said it was very difficult to know. “Police are investigating,” he said. “It was a holiday, we don't monitor holidays as such.”

Holding back tears, Thomas said: “We will pull together. It will strengthen us. We enjoyed a tough year on the field, and we were looking forward to next year. This is a major, major setback emotionally.

“We will come through it. We will wrap our arms around our players and their partners – we are doing that now – and we will be stronger for it.

“John came into our footy club looking to reignite his career; he played 21 of the 22 games this year, started like a bomb and looked fantastic, and we had great hopes for him.” These games added to his 18 for Collingwood from 2008–2011.

Now McCarthy is no longer with us. As one Port official said: “It makes everything else that has happened this year, and the announcement that was going to be this week, so irrelevant.”